Samsung Canada brought its rivalry with Apple onto the streets of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, deploying mobile digital billboards to promote its Galaxy Z Fold8 amid reports of display problems affecting some of Apple’s new iPhone Duo devices. The campaign was developed in days and placed competitive smartphone advertising in busy urban areas, including locations near retail stores.
Created with communications agency Edelman, the campaign used the line “Folding. We know a thing or eight” to emphasize Samsung’s eight generations of Galaxy Z Fold smartphones. Its social creative launched October 29, followed by mobile digital billboards from October 30 through November 1.
Christian Di Vincenzo, Director, Corporate Brand at Samsung Canada, said the company saw an opportunity to join a conversation already attracting attention online. “With renewed attention on foldables, we saw a timely opportunity to join the conversation with a little humour while reminding Canadians that Samsung has been innovating in this space for years,” he told Retail Insider in written responses.
The advertising alluded to reports of damaged inner displays on some iPhone Duo devices, using bright lines across images to evoke the reported problem. Apple acknowledged an issue affecting a small number of units and directed affected customers to seek replacements, according to MacRumors; the overall failure rate has not been established.
Taking a Social Campaign Near Stores
Samsung chose mobile billboards to carry the campaign beyond social feeds and into high-traffic neighbourhoods in Canada’s three largest metropolitan markets. Di Vincenzo said the format offered flexibility over where and when people would see the advertising, while giving passersby something they might photograph and share.
“We wanted to bring the campaign directly to Canadians in a way that felt unexpected and engaging,” he said. “Mobile digital billboards created a highly visual moment that people could capture and share, while also giving us flexibility regarding where and when to reach people.”
The connection to physical retail was intentional. Samsung wanted the advertising to prompt consumers to consider its foldable devices and, potentially, examine them in person.
“We took our message directly to Canadians in high-traffic areas and around retail locations. The activation was designed to spark curiosity and get people thinking about Samsung, while making it easy for them to take that next step and explore our foldable devices in-store,” Di Vincenzo said.
That objective aligns with Samsung’s existing investment in Canadian Experience Stores. Retail Insider reported in August that the company had recently added stores at CF Market Mall in Calgary, CF Carrefour Laval in Laval and CF Richmond Centre in Richmond, British Columbia, building on a network that includes locations in Toronto, Mississauga, Montreal and Burnaby.
From Concept to Three Cities in Days
Edelman led the creative concept, production and execution across social, out-of-home and earned media, according to Di Vincenzo. The campaign moved from social posts to billboards within a day, allowing Samsung to respond while the foldable-phone discussion was still active.
“For us, this is a bigger shift in how we are approaching marketing,” he said. “We’re continuing to look for opportunities to take ideas that start on social and bring them into the real world in ways that feel timely and relevant.”
Samsung said the activation generated 27 pieces of earned-media coverage and more than 12 million impressions. The company did not provide an independent measurement methodology, campaign spending or figures connecting that exposure to product consideration, store traffic or sales.
The billboards followed two other Canadian efforts focused on foldable smartphones. Samsung launched Ask Us Anything on October 15 to address practical questions about durability, everyday use and switching devices, then announced Eight Years Later on October 22, inviting Canadian technology creators Karl Conrad, Unbox Therapy and Linus Media Group to revisit their early impressions of foldables.
Those initiatives focused on consumer education and Samsung’s experience in the category; the billboard campaign added a sharper competitive message. There is no evidence that all three were planned as a single coordinated rollout.
Di Vincenzo said Samsung has no imminent plans to deploy the mobile billboards in additional Canadian markets. “What excites us most is the broader opportunity to keep bringing our social ideas into real-world experiences,” he said.
